Sacred
by Malin Halibell
Summary: For over a thousand years, Volterra has been a protected and sacred city, ruled by the descendants of Aro Volturi. Isabella Volturi, Queen of Volterra, wants the peace to continue, but all of that is destroyed when the Cullens, believing that Volterra has broken laws created between them centuries ago, storm the city and take Isabella prisoner. Futuristic/Full Summary Inside
1. Chapter 1

**This is a little different from what I usually write, but my muse smacked me around a little until I wrote it. So enjoy, sit back, and keep your hands and feet inside the ride at all times.**

_**Full Summary:**_

_**For over a thousand years, Volterra has been a protected and scared city, being ruled by the descendants of Aro Volturi. Isabella Volturi, Queen of Volterra, wants nothing more than to continue with the peace her city has been encased in for nearly a thousand years, but all of that is destroyed when the Cullens, believing that Volterra has broken laws created between them hundreds of years ago, storm the city and take Isabella prisoner. There is something about Isabella that makes the Cullens pause - the fact that she looks exactly like a girl they all knew and loved once, but died a millennium ago.**_

* * *

_**In the land of Gods and Monsters**_

_**I was an angel living in the Garden of Evil**_

_**Screwed up, scared, doing anything that I needed**_

_**Shining like a fiery beacon**_

* * *

"They are approaching the gates, my queen." My nervous handmaid Angela said, bending down beside me.

"Let them try to enter." I replied, calmly daring them.

The strength in my voice belied the fear clenching inside my chest.

Mostly, I felt anger.

How dare these… these _animals_ attack our city?

Volterra was the last Sacred City on Earth. No one had ever used force to enter its gates, and certainly never dared to attack it. Volterra held the sacred men and women of our world; priests, priestess, healers, guardians of our city, and me.

My family had been the rulers and protectors of the Sacred City since it's beginning.

I was the last of my family, Isabella Volturi, the Queen and High Priestess of Volterra. It rested on my shoulders to maintain the traditions and values of our city, while keeping peace and safety throughout.

And now, all of that was being destroyed before my eyes.

The _men _- if they could be called that - outside our walls had no justification to come and bring their violence and demand that we open our gates so they can slaughter my people and defile my city.

"They've breached the first gate, my queen." The leader of my guard, Jacob, informed me as he entered the room, his breath shallow and heavy, his voice worried.

"What about the second gate?" I turned to ask him.

"It remains strong." Jacob said.

"Do not let them through, Jacob." I told him, rare vulnerability showing in my voice.

We had no heavy military training here, the members of the guard having been taught to fight of course, but they could not compare to small army outside. We would all die if the second gate failed.

"You should go to the high temple." Jacob advised softly.

"I will not cower!" I snapped harshly, then apologized. "I am sorry, Jacob."

"No need to apologize, you have reason to be upset." He assured me kindly.

Jacob was always so kind to me. He was only five years older than me and the youngest leader of the guard in Volterra history. Jacob was a skilled warrior and had more than earned his rank.

"It is not cowering, my queen." He continued. "If the gate does fail, you will be the only one that may be able to reason with these people. It will do no good if they kill you in their haze of blood. The high temple is protected and may hold them off longer."

"You are right, I know all of this." I said, mostly to myself.

I needed to calm myself, worry and anger were making me forget myself, the calm that usually radiated through me was lost.

"Come, Angela." I said to the frightened handmaid beside me, rising and adjusting the layers of my dress.

We followed Jacob through the winding stone hallways, the archways we passed revealing beams of sunlight. It was odd, that such horror could happen during such a cheerful looking day. I'd always imagined the sky to be dark and rain falling down on us when people were being murdered.

The three of us ascended up the spiral stairs, fifty of them as I had counted once when I was younger, and the ornately carved double doors to the high temple were opened before us.

This was were Jacob stopped. No man was allowed to enter, only the residing ruler and priestesses.

I went to enter, but Jacob stopped me, reaching out to place his hand on my bare arm before yanking it back as if I'd burned him.

"What is it?" I asked.

He looked at me, his dark eyes darting nervously from mine to the wall.

"I will not fail you, Bella." He whispered, surprising me a little by the use of shortened version of my name. He used to call me _Bella _when we were younger, before there were so many responsibilities put on us both. Over the past couple years, it had only been _my queen _or sometimes _Isabella_.

I had forgotten what it felt like to be called something from my childhood.

"I know you won't." I answered, slowly taking his hand in mine and giving it a squeeze.

It was the most real human contact I'd had since my mother died. I had a dozen handmaids, but none of them really touched me unless they were helping to dress me or paint the ritual marking for prayer on my skin.

A roar arose from the direction of the gates and Jacob took off down the stairs without another word.

"My queen." The soft voice of Angela called my attention to her.

I retreated into the room with her, the doors closing firmly behind us, the lock mechanisms clicking into place.

"Are we going to die?" Angela asked.

I stared at her, for once not knowing what to say. I could not lie to the poor girl and say that everything would be fine, that we would live. But I also could not look her in the eyes and tell her we were going to be killed, for I did not know if that was to be our fate either.

"I will do everything in my power to make sure we live." I said, hoping that would sooth her fears, even a little.

Angela nodded in acceptance, but I could tell that she saw through my words.

Sometimes, when I was left alone to my thoughts, I would wonder what things would have been like if I had been allowed to learn to fight. That maybe I could do more than sit here and wait to live or die.

But no, I had been taught rituals and lessons, taught how to rule peacefully and maintain the secrets and laws within the city.

All I could do was sit before the statue of the original members of my family. They had been called The Volturi, three of them - Aro, Caius, and Marcus. They had ruled over the vampire world for thousands of years before the rebels rose up to overthrow them.

It hadn't worked as they had planned.

Aro Volturi knew that if anything were to happen to them, there would be nothing left of the Volturi, so in secrecy he took a human woman to mate with. The result had been a hybrid child - half vampire and half human. My great-great-great grandmother.

After the vampire who rebelled against my family thought they had conquered Volterra and killed Aro and his brothers, Aro's hybrid daughter drove them back, engaging in a twenty year war with the rebels.

It had nearly cost vampires everything, including their reveal to the human world. After the twenty years of war, Aro's daughter and the rebels came to an agreement.

The rebels did not want to stay under the rule of the Volturi, believing it had become too corrupt and controlling, but there were other vampires that liked the rule of the Volturi. So it was decreed that Volterra remain under the rule of the Volturi, and any vampire that wished for things to remain the way they had once been were to live in Volterra.

It became largely a vampire providence, the humans being evacuated over the course of just a couple months.

The rebels had gotten what they wanted, too, going under the rule of one of their own; a man named Carlisle Cullen.

A hundred years after the war, Volterra was claimed a Sacred City. And fifty years after that, the wall had been built.

A large towering wall that ran along the border of the city. My mother had once told me it resembled The Great Wall of China, but was nearly three times the height.

Hybrids had the beauty and increased power of vampires, but not quite the immortality of them. They had longer life spans than humans, but they did eventually die, after around three hundred years.

Aro's daughter had mated with a human male, having two children of their own; Jane and Alec. They had ruled together for nearly two hundred years before Alec was killed.

That was when Jane made the laws that existed now, to protect Volterra and to see that we were completely peaceful. No death or weapons, only vampires and hybrids that wanted to live in peace with one another.

Jane had only mated with a male vampire to ensure that the Volturi bloodline remained, and my grandmother, Heidi was born. Heidi and my grandfather Alistair ruled for the next three hundred years, then my mother, Renee took over.

Now, twelve hundred years later, all of that work, that peace, was crumbling. And for what? Why were they attacking us? We had done nothing wrong, all we wanted was to be left alone by the outside world with all their traitors and violence.

I could hear a tremendous crashing sound, followed by screams and battle cries.

_Oh Gods… they had somehow broken through._

Angela knew this as well, her breath catching as I heard her heart rate spike.

I was a hybrid child myself, making me able to hear ten times the level of human hearing, along with all of my other senses being heightened. Both of my parents had been hybrids, so I was completely equal on both sides. That in it's self was rare, most hybrids either mated with a vampire or a human, but that was because hybrids were few and far between. Maybe one hybrid to every fifty vampires.

That was another reason the rebels had wanted to separate from the Volturi - they believed that the act of a vampire and a human mating was an abomination, and the children of such unions were monsters.

The men who had just broken into my city considered me a monster.

"Isabella!" Angela whispered hoarsely.

"Silence!" I snapped, standing up. "We will not show them our fear. If they do kill us, it will be without the shame of crying and groveling."

She looked like she wanted to cry, but she did as I said and stood up to stand behind me without tears.

I had a momentary thought of fleeing, but I would disgrace my family like that. Even if I had wanted to run, I was not dressed for it. My thin flowing white dress with it's web of crystals was made for ruling in, not running in.

I listened as they made their way through the city, screams and growls, the sounds of vampires being torn apart, the smell of smoke and flesh burning.

I wanted to throw up.

_How dare they? How dare these animals do this to us?_

Anger surged up inside of me, making my body shake and my vision blur.

Power I barely knew I had pulsed through my veins and in the back of my mind I could hear the glass windows shaking with the force of my mental energy.

I heard the heavy footsteps make their way up the stairs, stopping when they reached the barricaded doors. I knew the doors would only hold them back for maybe a minute, but at this point I didn't care. I _wanted _them to get through. I wanted to kill them, any agreement between our kind be damned.

As I predicted, they barged through the door in fifty seconds, the heavy wood and steel bursting open to reveal a group of about twenty vampires. I knew this wasn't even half of the army ravaging my city.

"Here's the bitch." A blond male vampire shouted to the group.

I tried not to blush at the crude word. We did not use such language here. The only time I heard anyone cussing was when Jacob and I were younger, we had snuck into a human pub and one of the men had gotten drunk and was singing a very colorful song.

"What do you think you are doing to my city?" I asked in my most demanding voice.

I saw a couple of the vampires take a step back, but the blond with the crude words stood firm.

"My name is General James Hunter, I have been ordered to take the city of Volterra." He stared at me, his eyes cold and blood red.

"On what grounds?" I asked, still keeping my voice firm.

"On the grounds that you and your people have broken the laws agreed upon by our ancestors - evidence has come to light that there are vampires here that are forcibly drinking human blood." He answered, clearly amused by the shocked look on my face.

No.

That was not possible. Not from those who lived in Volterra.

Six hundred years ago, Jane Volturi and Carlisle Cullen agreed that the practice of feeding from humans was outdated and particularly cruel. That was shortly after the synthetic blood had been created, leaving no real excuse for humans to be the main food source. Of course, there were still a few cases where the humans were willing, and the law had a clause that deemed it acceptable if the human was able to keep their own free will within the relationship and treated kindly.

But here… we did not feed from the very few humans that were here.

"There have been no humans here that were meant for feeding for nearly six hundred years!" I protested.

"Lies!" James suddenly growled at me.

"You think I would break my own laws?" I asked, completely scandalized.

"You are a Volturi, I think you would do a lot of things." Was his scathing answer.

"We are a peaceful people," I started, trying to contain myself from ripping the skin off his face, "the people here in Volterra do not drink human blood, we import the synthesized blood that is made by you. All humans are here by their own free will, and they are treated with respect, not used as food."

He ignored me, turning to give the men an order that made my blood run cold.

"Kill her."

Three vampires stepped forward, hatred shining in their eyes as they advanced toward me.

"I am the Queen of Volterra, the last Sacred City on Earth, you have no right to touch me without proof of your accusations!" I spoke loudly and as calmly as possible.

"What do you want of us - a trial?" James asked sarcastically, laughing with the ones who were told to kill me.

"No, search the city - what's left of it - and if you find a single human who has been harmed by a member of my city, I will die." I told him.

"That will not be necessary… _my queen_." He sneered, stepping aside to let another vampire through the crowd. This vampire was pushing a human girl in front of him, stopping a few feet away from me.

"We already have a human witness to the cruelty that goes on here." James gestured toward the girl.

I looked closely at her; normal looking, with pale brown hair and green eyes, her frame fairly thin. I didn't recognize her, but that didn't mean anything - she could belong to one of the houses outside the palace.

"Speak girl." James commanded her.

She looked fearfully between me and James, her words tumbling out.

"A-A couple of the s-soldiers… they t-took me and fed from me. I-It was h-horrible and I-" She broke off with a cry and shook her head frantically.

I felt sorry for the girl, but it was still not enough reason.

"You're going to condemn my entire city because of the actions of two men?" I asked lowly.

"There have been others." James said like he was speaking to a child. "This girl is only one of nearly a dozen. There are many here that break your laws."

"So you give me no warning, or tell me of these acts so I can punish those involved myself. Instead you storm my city, kill my people, and now wish to kill me. How is that just?" I asked semi-rhetorically.

"_No matter how big or small, the law is the law_." He quoted from the mandate.

I scowled, both of us knowing that was not how it was meant as.

James motioned toward me and the three vampires from earlier darted forward, grabbing onto my arms with iron force. I focused, my anger driving my power, and watched as they collapsed to the ground from the crippling mental pulses I was sending them.

But I wasn't a very good fighter.

So I was unprepared when another two vampires came at me suddenly, tacking me to the ground. I wasn't as strong, so my efforts to fight them off was in vain. I used my powers, but as soon as two dropped from me, another two had taken their place.

Angela was screaming at them not to touch me, threatening them. It almost made me laugh.

One of the vampires gripped my long hair, using it as leverage to force me to the stone floor, bending my head back painfully.

James stood above me, looking smug and satisfied, as if he was doing some great thing by having me murdered.

Everything felt as if the world was suddenly going in slow motion.

James reached down, placing his hands precisely on jaw and my cheek, squeezing so hard tears nearly came to my eyes.

"Wait!" A female voice shouted.

I saw a momentary flicker of annoyance cross James's face, but he released my head and turned in the direction of the voice.

"My lady?" James asked.

I managed to look beyond him, a small girl stood in the doorway of the temple, staring at me with furrowed eyebrows.

"Don't kill her." The tiny girl commanded.

She was obviously a vampire; pale skin, delicate features, blood red eyes. Though as I looked closer, I could see a kindness in her that was not apparent in the others. She almost looked like she could have been one of my own people.

"Alice," James said, half chuckling, but he looked worried. "This is the queen of Volterra, the city that has committed so many atrocities against the very laws your family helped create. Why should I spare her life?"

"Because I said so." Alice said darkly, glaring at James as if she was trying to set him on fire.

He backed away, motioning to the men holding me and they released me. I stood quickly and fluidly, meeting Alice's look from across the room.

She took careful and slow steps toward me, I tensed, but saw no threat in her.

"What's your name?" Alice asked softly, her eyes taking in every bit of me, almost as if she couldn't believe I was standing there.

"I am Queen Isabella Volturi." I told her harshly.

Though she seemed kind, I held in the back of my mind the thought of what she'd allowed to happen. She was obviously important, James obeyed her, called her _my lady_, and I remember James saying something about the laws her family made.

_Was it possible she was a Cullen?_

Alice sucked in a sharp breath as I told her my name, and I could swear she looked excited.

"Bring her with us." Alice told a couple of the vampires who had come with James.

They immediately grabbed a hold of me, making a twinge of pain shoot through my body at their rough touch.

"Don't hurt her!" Alice snapped at them.

They looked thoroughly reprimanded, loosening their fingers around my arms.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"I'm bringing you to my family." She said simply, almost cheerfully as I was forced to follow her out of the temple.

* * *

**Yeah... what the hell, right?**

**Love or hate?**

**Next chapter is being written right this moment, so it should be up by next Tuesday. See you then!**


	2. Chapter 2

**BPOV**

I hated the not knowing, the fear it induced inside of me. I was not accustomed to such a thing.

The small girl James had called Alice walked gracefully ahead of us, the two vampires firmly guiding me through my own hallways.

I could tell we were heading to the Great Hall of the palace, an area where normally such things as gatherings, meetings between my council and I, and where I would meet with people of Volterra.

Now, as we turned the corner and the large wooden double doors opened, I saw that it was being used for something entirely different.

A mass of fourteen vampires stood loosely grouped together, their discussion cutting off abruptly as we entered.

"What is this? A new toy?" A female vampire asked with a childish giggle to her voice.

I was ashamed to say that I was struck by her beauty, great even by the standards of vampires. Her curling strawberry blond curls fell to her waist, curves encased in a tight fitting dress ending mid-thigh.

"Tanya…" A light blond male vampire shushed her in a warning voice. He looked a few years older physically, maybe thirty or so.

This one seemed to be the leader.

The way they all looked to him as he stepped forward, how the one he called Tanya suddenly looked like a reprimanded child at the tone of his voice.

"Alice, I'm guessing this is the queen." He addressed the tiny girl without even looking at me.

I pushed down the irritation, years of people showing me respect had been ingrained into me.

"Yes, I am the queen, thank you very much for asking." I said loudly, my harsh voice cutting through the room.

One of the vampires holding onto me actually chuckled, but then his face became serious again.

For the first time, several pairs of eyes settled on me. What I wasn't expecting was the sharp gasps emitted by half of them.

"I know." Alice said to them excitedly, like she knew exactly what they were so shocked by.

The leader walked slowly toward me, his searching eyes never leaving my face. I watched him carefully, ready to fight as best I could.

_I would not die a coward, I would fight until they wrung my last breath from my body._

"Which of you did that?" He asked suddenly of the vampires behind me, motioning toward the left part of my face.

I frowned, not knowing what he was talking about. Was there something wrong with me?

"You have a scrape on your cheek." Alice said softly, looking up at me with kind eyes.

I trampled down the urge to reach up to my face. It couldn't be too bad, or else I would be in more pain than the slight twinge I was currently experiencing. I would heal in a matter of hours anyway, my vampire side allowing for accelerated healing.

"I... I believe it was me, sir." The vampire standing to my right stammered out, looking nervously between the leader and I.

I recognized him as the vampire who had twisted my hair and forced me to the floor.

"Do you think that is the proper way to treat a queen?" The leader asked sharply.

"General Hunter ordered us to kill her." He explained quickly.

The leaders' eyes then flicked toward James, who was suddenly looking incredibly ill for a vampire.

"You did _what_?" The leader asked softly. Deadly.

"I assumed you would want her killed after the crimes she has committed!" James defended himself. "The punishment for such things is death!"

"You were ordered to take the city and bring me it's ruler!" The leader shouted. "Not to take it upon yourself to kill the girl before she was even judged!"

I could see the small crowd of vampires behind him shifting nervously, looking at him with widened eyes. Giving me the impression this kind of behavior from him was uncommon.

"Get out of my sight!" He snarled at James, who jumped back and scrambled to the entryway, disappearing into the shadows of the halls.

The leader turned to me once again, his expression fierce.

"Did he harm you in any other way?" His voice was tight, as if he was trying to control himself.

"No." I said.

I was not permanently injured. The scrapes and bruises would heal soon, there was no need for me to tell him anything.

"I apologize for the way you were treated by our general, he was not given permission to take such actions." He told me.

"You mean to say that _you_ wanted to kill me instead." I said flatly, in no mood to play whatever game this was.

He did not say anything to that, which only proved I was correct.

Sure, James hadn't been allowed to kill me, but this man just wanted me brought to him so that he could do it himself, or at the very least watch me die by the hands of his choosing.

"Carlisle, I believe we should find Edward." A woman vampire spoke. She was pretty and kind looking with caramel curls flung over one shoulder and her concerned eyes as she looked at me.

She reminded me of my mother.

_No._ _I could not find kindness in my murderers._

"Do you think that's wise, Esme? Maybe we should just get it over with." The leader – apparently named Carlisle, asked the woman.

Wait a moment...

_Carlisle, Esme, Alice..._

I found something chillingly familiar in these names.

_Carlisle Cullen, his mate Esme, and their vampire children Edward, Bella, Alice, Jasper, Rosalie and Emmett are the names of the vampires who led the war against the Volturi._

I shouldn't have been surprised. These people had rebelled and destroyed everything over a thousand years ago, it was no great stretch that they would do it again now.

"No, let him decide. I'd say that he has some right." Esme said.

"Very well." Carlisle sighed, like he was exhausted this whole ordeal.

I felt disgusted.

He did this and now he acted as though it tired him.

"Emmett, go find him." Carlisle ordered, and a large muscled man stepped from the group and walked past me out the entryway.

I straightened my spine and steeled myself for whatever was about to come. I couldn't seem to stop the nagging thoughts in the back of my mind.

_Who was Edward?_

_Did they want him to kill me?_

_Why did they all seem to be so fascinated by me?_

I understood nothing of these vampires and it was driving me insane.

"You are aware of why we have come here?" Carlisle asked me.

"I am aware, but that does not mean you are in the right." I said sharply. "These accusations and the proof of what _a few_ of my men were doing should have been brought to me to be dealt with. To attack my city like this is uncalled for and frankly, it's a little concerning that you feel such drastic actions need to be taken."

Carlisle said nothing, just looked at me with a frown on his face. Beside me, out of the corner of my eye I could see Alice grinning up at me.

_They were so damn confusing._

I looked past Carlisle to the group behind him. Most were still staring at me with wide eyes, a couple of them looked bored as they glanced around the marble room, Tanya was even tapping her foot as she braided her hair.

I was never one for violence, but I could see myself giving the order to have her killed and feeling a sick sense of satisfaction about it.

There was one vampire that caught my eye.

A beautiful blond girl, looking to be around my own physical age of twenty. Her hair was golden curls down her back, her eyes curious and the color of honey. There was none of the disgust or hatred in her face that seemed to be in most of the other vampires.

She looked sad.

"What is all the fuss about, Carlisle?" A smooth voice came from behind me.

My skin prickled, ready to go on the attack again is necessary.

"Edward... this is Queen Isabella Volturi." Carlisle said slowly. "We believed that you might want to see her... for obvious reasons."

Edward looked me up and down, his mouth opening slightly as he stared at me.

Then he cracked a smile, but it wasn't a normal happy smile. Something crept up my spine and screamed _run away_.

"This is it. I've finally gone crazy. I thought it had already happened, but my mind just keeps creating new ways to fuck with me." He said with a hysterical edge.

Oh dear Goddess.

This one was insane.

I think I would prefer James or Carlisle to kill me quickly than go through anything Edward may do to me.

"You're not crazy." Little Alice said with a roll of her eyes, like this was a normal thing for Edward.

"Well then how do you explain _this_?" Edward nearly growled at her, waving a hand toward me.

"We can't really..." Alice trailed off hopelessly.

Edward glanced around at everyone, seeming to look for an explanation that none of them could give.

"This is some kind of cruel joke." He muttered under his breath.

"Edward, just kill her so we can finish what we came here for." Tanya said, still sounding like she had better things to do.

Edward snarled, and at vampire speed he stood in front of her, his hand wrapped around her throat.

"You do not tell me what to do." He growled lowly. "I suggest that you don't speak of things you have no understanding of."

Tanya let out a whimpering sound and nodded the best she could despite his grip. He released her, then without another look toward her came back to stand before me.

I _really_ looked at him now.

He towered over me, my face barely meeting his chest. His eyes were black with dark circles beneath them, telling me he hadn't fed in a while, and his bronze hair was a near tangled mess, giving him a wild look. His face was sharp, unforgiving as he gazed down at me.

I'd been distracted by his face, so when I caught sight of his hand reaching out toward me, I snapped instinctively.

"Don't touch me!" I jerked away from him, hissing my words out violently.

A flash of pain crossed his face, his outstretched fingers curling in on themselves. That pain was suddenly replaced by anger, and his hand shot forward and harshly wrapped around the back of my neck, making me stumble toward him and nearly fall as he jerked me forward.

"Edward!" Esme shouted in a tone that very much reminded me of when my mother would reprimand me.

"No matter what her face looks like, she is still a Volturi. She has still broken the laws and she'll die for it." He growled out.

"No!" Alice cried out, reaching for me. Edward was a step ahead of her, quickly spinning me away from her so I was now between him and Carlisle.

"Kill her yourself then." The blond girl stepped around the man Emmett. "If you want her dead, you look her in the eyes and watch as you take her life." She sounded angry and desperate, and a feeling rose up from inside of me that made me want to run to her.

Their eyes met and something seemed to pass between them, and Edward looked away almost shamefully.

"It's not Bella." He whispered hoarsely, to himself or to the blond girl, I didn't know.

_It_.

Rage surged through me that they were discussing my death like this, debating amongst each other about who would do it. My hand came up like a flash, knocking Edward's own hand away from me as my other hand shot out to touch his face, the only part of him with bare skin.

My mental energy spiked through me and could see when it hit Edward's mind, as he collapsed to the ground holding his head.

Instantly I was rushed by Carlisle, Emmett and few others, tackling me to the hard floor and searing pain blinded me as I cracked my head against the cold marble.

I cried out, trying to fight the bodies holding me down in a panic.

_It was too much, too many people, too much pain, too much hatred._

Then suddenly the weight was off me, I was yanked into a sitting position with Edward only inches from my face.

I expected him to yell or strike me, but his rage was silent. I could see the fury in his eyes and his chest was rapidly moving up and down.

"See!" Edward turned and roared at the blond girl. "She would rather kill us, just like all the other Volturi! Only her face is Bella!"

"You speak of killing me, but it is wrong for me to fight you for my life?" I screamed at him. "_I am a queen_, you ignorant savage, I'm not one of your spineless people who will stand here and die without a fight!"

The room grew silent, Edward's eyes wide as if he couldn't believe what I had said.

"Jasper!" He called to one of the other vampires.

I didn't even bother looking to see who it was, my eyes burning into Edward and they refused to leave.

"Take _her majesty_ to a secure room and make sure she doesn't try to escape." Edward commanded, sounding mocking as he called me one of my many titles.

_Trying to provoke me._

I was pulled from the floor, a little gentler than I expected, and led from my great hall.

**.**

**.**

**.**

**.**

**.**

**.**

Now all I could do was think.

I could no longer hear screams from outside, but that wasn't necessarily something good. The reason for my peoples silence could be that they are all dead.

I cringed to think about what those horrible vampires could be doing to the city as I sat in one of the servants rooms. It had no windows to the outside and the door was locked and guarded by two of the vampires.

Jasper had chosen my prison wisely.

There was no escape, nothing here to help me pass the time because of the simpleness of the room, and there was no way to tell the time of day. I felt like I'd been here for days, but for all I knew it could have only been a couple of hours.

This had to be their way of mentally torturing me.

I was also concerned about Angela. I hadn't seen her since James and Alice took me away, and while I was sure they wouldn't kill her because she was human, that didn't mean she wasn't suffering as I was; locked in a dark room to await her fate.

And what of Jacob?

Was he among those they had killed while invading the city? Or did they take him hostage as well?

All of these thoughts would not stop spinning around my mind, driving me to near insanity.

I was pacing back and forth amongst the room, almost running into the walls I was so upset. I could hear them walking the hallways outside my door, talking quietly to each other, but nothing they said made sense to me.

I was about to cave in and start pounding on the door like a child, when the woman named Esme opened the door, carrying a tray of food. Her face was kind as she walked in and set the tray on a small table a few feet from where I stood.

"I thought you might be hungry." She explained softly.

"Thank you." I said out of a habit of forced manners.

"Would you like anything else?" She asked, her motherly tone only making me angrier.

"No." I gritted out, turning away from her.

"Isabella I'm sor-"

"Leave!" I cried out loudly. "Can you not give me this one peace? You've taken everything else from me."

I'd rather sit here in silence than have to listen to this woman try to show me sympathy.

"I'll be back in an hour to take the tray." She said, then the door shut firmly.

The hollow pit in my stomach made me glance at the food. It looked good, but who had made it? Was this a trick and they had poisoned it?

As a hybrid, I could eat human food more often than I needed to drink blood. In fact, I could go for months without drinking blood, but it would make me weaker.

I picked at the food with a fork, taking a piece of chicken and carefully smelling it before eating it. After a few minutes when nothing happened, I figured it was safe to eat.

As Esme promised she was back for the now empty tray. I didn't look at her, didn't try to speak with her, hoping she'd take the hint and leave me to wallow alone.

As I heard the door close shut, I relaxed a little and turned back around, ready to resume my pacing. But froze when I saw Edward leaning against the door.

I hadn't even realized he was there, an unusual thing to happen to me.

"Are you going to kill me now?" I asked bluntly.

"How old are you?" He ignored my question with one of his own. An odd one, at that.

"Physically I am twenty, but... I have lived for nearly fifty years." I told him cautiously.

I was still considered young by hybrid standards, and had been ruling for only twenty years, forced into it by the early death of my mother.

"Too young to be her..." Edward muttered to himself, trailing off.

He stood silent, frowning down at the floor for so long I started to think he'd forgotten I was there.

"I'm not going to kill you." His voice cut into the room.

"I don't understand." I can't believe I'm wondering why he's not going to kill me.

"We've taken Volterra, it's under our control now. My family and I have had a discussion and we've agreed; we are taking you as a prisoner as an example to the city." Edward's voice was cold, empty.

"An example of what?" I asked breathlessly, trying with all my power not to breakdown.

Edward's dark eyes flashed up to stare into mine and I instinctively took a step back.

"To show them that living under the protection of the Volturi means nothing. That your family means nothing." After he spoke his cutting words, he was out the door at vampire speed and I jumped at the slam of the heavy oak.

As I sat on the bed and buried my face in my hands, I finished in my mind what I knew he had thought to himself but did not say.

_That I mean nothing._

* * *

**Yeah, Edward's kinda a jerk, but I assure you he has his reasons. And what do you all think of Bella? You like her, think she's acting a little immature, or just right considering what's been done to her? **

**So sorry I haven't updated recently, lots of drama llama in real life, but all that's over now, which means more chapters for you. Thank you for reading!**


	3. Chapter 3

Days passed as I sat trapped in this room. Edward had said that they decided not to kill me, but they _were_ killing me. Draining the will to live from me as every hour passed, breaking me down slowly and painfully both in my mind and my soul.

It had been bred into my family for more than twelve hundred years that our soul purpose was to rule, to protect, to ensure the safety and happiness of the people inside Volterra's walls. Now that it had all been stolen from me, I felt an empty hole inside my chest.

Edward, nor anyone else but Esme Cullen came to my room. She'd bring me food twice a day, and once when she came she carried a pile of my dresses in her arms. Esme always tried to speak with me. At first I'd been angry, simply turning my back on her until she left. Now... I laid in the bed, my back turned, not really caring anymore.

I was used to the heavy flow of people throughout the palace, smiling and talking and asking me how I was or to talk to me about a problem they had. The loneliness in itself was draining.

Then Esme came in yesterday to bring me dinner, she surprised me by telling me how long I'd been here.

Her sweet voice floated through my head and I cringed at the words.

"_It's been sixteen days, Isabella."_

It was like she sensed some part of me needed to know.

Sixteen days. Over two weeks.

That was the first night I had finally let myself cry. I tried to muffle the sounds into my pillow, but I didn't think it was working too well with their vampire hearing. I had cried until the merciful darkness of sleep came over me.

Now the next morning, my eyes burned and felt puffy, my throat raw from the sobs and I almost didn't want to get up.

There wasn't much to do anyway. I had developed a sort of numbing routine over the past couple weeks; I'd take a bath and go through all of the necessaries, get dressed in some of the clothes Esme'd brought to me, and by then she would be arriving with my breakfast, which I would slowly eat some of the food, almost like it was becoming a chore, and fill the time between then and dinner with trivial acts such as reading or playing chess on my own.

My third day in the room, I'd found that there was a whole bookcase full of stories in the small storage area around a wall, along with a chess board, and little glass figurines.

It helped a little to read, to try to get lost in the stories, but I always came back to reality in a crashing wave.

As the seventeenth day progressed, I lay curled up in bed with a book, trying to will the world around me away as I read the words. I heard light footsteps coming down and the hall and knew it was Esme bringing me dinner.

But when the door opened, it wasn't Esme's usual _hello_ then silence.

A sharp gasp echoed through the small space and my eyes snapped up from my book to see the blond girl that had defended my life to Edward so many days ago.

"I'll kill him." Her voice shook with unshed tears.

I looked down at myself. I knew from looking in the mirror that there were dark circles under my eyes and I was paler than usual from the lack of sunlight. I'd also lost some weight, so my already fairly thin frame probably didn't look all that appealing as I lay there in one of my simple day dresses.

But I couldn't for the life of me figure out why she looked close to tears.

"Oh God, I'll kill Edward for this." She continued in a hoarse whisper.

"Whatever for?" I asked numbly. Wasn't she on his side? Keeping me prisoner here was part of what they did.

"He's a stubborn fool." She muttered angrily.

"Please... go away." I was sick of their games, and didn't have the energy anymore. I turned from her, snuggling into my pillow.

The bed dipped behind me and I squeezed my eyes shut. I thought of many things she might do to me, but none of those scenarios involved her reaching to me and smoothing my hair behind my ear like she did.

Air caught in my throat at the touch, and when she did it once more, my eyes burned and the breath I'd been holding released in a shudder.

Something instinctual in me said that it was okay for me to let myself go around this one. This one felt safe.

So that's what I did. I allowed myself this weakness, letting the warm tears roll down my cheeks as I turned into her and rested my head on her lap. She seemed a little startled, but quickly went back to running her fingers through my hair and making soothing sounds.

Was this what they'd wanted all along? For me to breakdown so that they finally prove I was weak? So they could laugh at me and tell everyone how their queen had cried like a child after only a couple weeks of solitude?

_Well it worked._

Half of me was ashamed at myself and the other half was relieved to release the pressure of over fifty years of life. I hadn't cried in decades, hadn't had the time or need for it, after all – who wanted a queen who cried? My mother spent years molding me into her perfect successor, only to have it crumble to dust in this vampires' arms.

She began softly humming a tune and I found myself lost in her arms. Not many dared to ever touch me, and not since my mother had died over thirty years ago had I felt such comfort. How simple contact with another being gave me peace astounded me.

Over the next hour she hummed and played with pieces of my hair, often smoothing it back from my face and near lulling me into sleep. My tears eventually dried up either from simply not having any left or because my reasons to cry were slipping from me in this small moment of bliss.

However, I knew it couldn't last forever.

I allowed myself a few more moments of her soft touches and soft voice, then straightened up and moved away from her, quickly wiping away the leftover wetness on my cheeks.

"My name is Rosalie." She said in the same soothing tone as when I'd cried.

I glanced at her from the corner of my eye, not knowing what to say. I felt awkward now that the bubble I'd been in burst, ashamed to the point where I wanted to hide under the bed like a child.

"I'm sorry for Edward's behavior, he's... he doesn't handle things very well. To see you is killing him emotionally." Rosalie said.

That was it. Those words, how she tried to excuse his pain like that, like it was somehow my fault that he was suddenly upset after he'd destroyed Volterra and imprisoned me.

"I'm so sorry that I have hurt his feelings." I said harshly, standing from the bed and striding to the far wall, leaning against it as a small defiant act.

I half expected Rosalie to be offended, but was taken off guard by her sweet laughter.

"Oh yes, laugh at the broken queen." I continued angrily. "You get me to cry and show weakness and then you laugh. Like all the others of your family. I cannot even be granted the mercy of the quick death I would now welcome rather than remain here and be something for all of you to laugh about."

"Oh Isabella, no." Her laughter stopped and I sensed her walking up behind me. "I'm not trying to hurt you, I just find it funny that out of all your differences, you're still so much like how Bella was."

"Who is this Bella all of you keep going on about?" My confusion over that particular subject was only adding to my frustration and mental torture.

She did not answer me, instead looking forlornly at the door.

_That's what I thought. They'll give up nothing of themselves._

"Bella had been my sister." Rosalie said eventually.

My eyes darted up in surprise at this new piece of information, only to see her face contorted in bitter sadness.

"Not just my vampire sister, she was my flesh and blood." She continued sadly. "The same human parents, Bella and I were children together, and we even became vampires together."

"How?" I asked, unable to help the curiosity.

"A burglar in the middle of the night." Rosalie shook her head as if it were such a silly thing. "We lived with a roommate at the time, and Bella woke me up saying she heard something downstairs. Our roommate, Tyler, went to check it out and suddenly we heard a gun go off, and then all we could hear was him screaming for us to run. I dragged Bella to the backdoor I was running so fast, we didn't make it ten feet out the door before the robber shot us each in the back multiple times.

Her beautiful face contorted into a frown at that point and I'm sure if she had been capable, she would be crying.

"It was snowing... I remember it being so cold as we laid there... I tried to crawl toward the neighbors house, but I think one of the bullets had hit my lung because I couldn't breathe. And Bella... she didn't look like she was breathing at all, I thought she had died instantly, or was close to it. Either way all I could think about was getting help. See, I'd always taken care of Bella. She was my little sister, my best friend, we had each other when there was no one else. If the bullets didn't kill me, knowing that she had died _would_ kill me."

She choked on a little sob and I felt myself battling down my own tears.

"Then Edward came." Rosalie smiled through the pain on her face. "As he pulled Bella out of the snow, I thought he was some sort of angel. I watched him bend over her, looking like he was crying while he smoothed her hair back and rocked her in his arms, and I remember thinking it was so strange when he buried his face in her neck and bit her. She started coughing and jerking around, and I could have cried because that meant she was still alive. Then he came over to me and pulled me out of the snow, and he bit me like he bit Bella. The pain was awful. I wanted to rip my skin off just to see if that would stop the fire I felt engulfing me. Three days later I woke up with Emmett standing over me and Bella sitting beside me holding my hand. He had made us vampires."

"That's awful." I whispered, at a loss for words.

"It was a miracle, actually. We became immortal, found the men who made us feel whole and loved, and found a family that loved us. Sure, the blood drinking was a little awkward at first, but everything else overshadowed it by far. We lived in peace for almost three hundred years before our rebellion with the Volturi." Rosalie's face suddenly became a little angry, but she tried to hide it.

"Why did you do that? Go after the Volturi?" I asked. I always knew the stories my family told of the time – that the Cullens were envious of the power the Volturi had and wanted to take it for themselves, or that they just didn't like how the Volturi were running things and refused to abide by the rules any longer and refused to stop until they had power of their own, no matter the cost.

"I don't think I should tell you that." Rosalie shook her head, all of a sudden looking very closed up.

"Please, I want to know." I pressed. "All I've ever heard are the stories my family has told me... I've never heard it from a Cullen."

"You actually want to hear me talk about your family like that?" She asked skeptically. "I guarantee that you won't like what you hear."

"My mother taught me that as a queen, I have to be able to hear both sides of a story without judgment to make a fair decision." I said evenly. I was fully capable of hearing Rosalie's telling.

She looked a little taken aback for a moment, but let out a slow breath and sat down beside me.

"The Volturi... they were very old," She started slowly, "they refused to move forward in the world and believed in things that most of the new age vampire had considered to be barbaric. Aro felt threatened by the new changes, grew paranoid thinking we were going to kill him and the others of the Volturi. We were beginning to grow tired of their rule and started demanding that they step down. We fought over it for many years, but nothing like what was going to come. I suppose you could say the final straw was when we heard Aro had taken human women and was... well, basically experimenting on them. In his insanity, he wanted to find a way to continue his bloodline, but vampires are unable to have children with each other. It seemed that he discovered a male vampire could have a child with a female human."

I knew this part, and while I suppose it would seem abnormal to them back then, it was a commonplace occurrence now.

"The children of vampires and humans went against nature, the horror that the human woman had to go through was cruel and unnecessary. These women that Aro experimented on were not willing, they were taken from their homes and... to be blunt, Aro would rape them in an attempt to get them pregnant." Rosalie shuddered at the thought.

I _didn't_ know that part.

At least, it was told to me differently; that the woman Aro had used to create his biological child was his wife and more than willing to give him a hybrid child.

Rosalie looked at me carefully, then continued. "We were disgusted, many vampires were, not just our family. It was time for the Volturi to step down and let someone else rule. Then the rebellion ensued. The entire vampire world took sides and fought, it was a nearly constant battle and no one was safe. We told ourselves that it was worth it, if it would save our race in the long run, the fighting was worth the peace we'd gain in the end. Finally Carlisle wanted our family to face the Volturi head on – end the needless battles and deaths. That was where we made our mistake."

I was listening carefully, intrigued by the part of the story I'd never heard.

"Bella died saving me." She lamented tearfully. "Our family had gone to Italy, amidst all the fighting Aro... he had me around my throat and I just knew he was about to rip my head off and throw it in the fire. Emmett was fighting off Felix and Dimitri – two members of the guard – but I saw him looking at me... that horror on his face is something I'll never forget. Then Bella tackled Aro... I saw them fighting, and before I could even get up to help her, Aro and another of his guard were ripping her apart."

I couldn't hold in my gasp of horror.

"I can still hear Edward's screams... they were bloodcurdling, like someone had torn his soul out of his chest. We watched Bella burn while Aro cackled like a maniac. It happened so fast I couldn't believe it. Bella couldn't be dead, she had been the only constant in my life since I was three years old. Edward became wild after that, turning any vampire that got between him and Aro to pieces. I remember, Aro was too caught up in his own mind at the joy he seemed to feel about what he'd done, that he never saw Edward coming. None of us kept Edward from doing what he wanted to Aro; slowly ripping his limbs off one by one, making Aro watch as he burned them individually. I have a feeling that even that wasn't enough."

I felt physically ill from what she was telling me, but I couldn't find it in me to tell her to stop.

"After that, for a while Edward just didn't think it mattered anymore. To him, what was any kind of world without Bella in it? He disappeared for more than half of the twenty year war that followed after Aro's death. Aro's daughter, Renata, continued on with the war until we came to a truce; that Volterra would become it's own country and she and generations of her family after her could rule it the way they wished. We all agreed, but Edward just wanted to kill them all and have it be done with. We realized that Renata was not her father, she understood that the Volturi had been wrong in their ways and wanted to move forward with the new world. We agreed to the treaty you know of – that Volterra would be it's own country and have it's own ruler and laws, as long as no humans were unnecessarily harmed."

"That's..." I was at a loss for words once more.

What she said about Aro... that did not correspond with what had been told to me and my mother and even her mother. Aro hadn't been a bad person, he'd been a victim of oppression and betrayal. And those things about Aro experimenting on human women to create my race...

I cradled my face in my hands and tried to clear my head.

A part of me wanted to believe Rosalie. After all, what did she gain in lying to me in such a way? I'd already been imprisoned, weakened, broken. I saw no advantage to her telling me lies. Though I still clung to the notion that my family, _my legacy_, was born out of love and the hope that the Volturi bloodline would continue on before it was savagely ended.

"I still don't understand why he kept calling me Bella." I said in an attempt to distract myself.

"You look just like her. You're a couple years older physically and your hair is a darker brown, but other than that you're an exact replica of my sister." She reached out toward me, like she was going to touch my face, but dropped her hand at the last second and looked uncomfortable.

"That is why you defended me." I realized. "When Edward commanded them to kill me, you knew he couldn't do it himself because I look too much like her."

"Yes." Rosalie frowned at her hands. "Over the years Edward has become bitter and cold, I'm sure the only reason he hasn't killed himself is because it would make Bella unhappy and he would feel shameful that he didn't carry through what she fought and died for. When he saw you, I saw something in his face... I'm afraid to say if was hope, but maybe he wanted to finally have become crazy enough that he was seeing Bella. I knew that as soon as he realized you couldn't be Bella, he would want you killed, just so he didn't have to be reminded of her. I saw something else though... I saw a possible happy ending for my brother."

I tried to think of a response to that, but failed. What did she mean? Did she believe that I could do something for Edward? If so, I had no idea what, or even if Edward would want to look at me without commanding me to be killed.

"Rosalie." The door swung opened and Esme's sweet voice carried across the room.

"Mother." Rosalie responded in like, standing quickly and moving to stand in front of me. "You can't take her to him yet."

"It's Edward decision as to what to do with her." Esme said, but she sounded no more happy than Rosalie did.

"What about me? She's almost a mirror image of my sister, what of my say?" Rosalie demanded fiercely.

"You'll have to fight with Edward over that one." Esme shook her head sadly.

"Come on." Rosalie murmured, reaching back to take my hand lightly.

I didn't pull away, the cool touch still as comforting as it had been minutes ago when she'd held me. We followed Esme out of the room, the first time I'd left the small space in weeks. I wanted to cry in relief of seeing the familiar hallways, the engravings in the stones, the stars in the dark sky as we passed an arched window. The air was even fresher out here, the staleness of the room left behind and replaced with crisp and cool night wind.

"Just stay behind me, I won't let him touch you. He's stupid if he tries to go after me with Emmett in the room." Rosalie said as we walked.

"I don't need protection." I told her in a low voice.

She glanced back at me, giving me an appraising look. "Sorry, but yes you do. At least until I'm sure Edward isn't going to kill you."

I felt myself waver inside, but continued to walk steadily behind her. I suddenly found myself not wanting to die. Weeks before, I had accepted my fate in a way, thought that it was inevitable that I would be killed, the only part I had worried about was dying like a queen. Now I did not even want that.

We came upon what I knew to be my main study. It had housed my extensive collection of books, and was often the place I retreated to when I wanted peace to do work or read.

It burned that they seemed to have claimed it as their own.

Carlisle was sitting where I usually would sit when going through paperwork and signing official documents. Edward sitting cross legged on the heavy oak desk, with Alice and Jasper to one side, and the large man from that first day whom I assumed to be Emmett stood closest to the door. He stepped quickly to Rosalie and took the hand that wasn't already holding mine.

I saw Edward take notice of this, his eyes narrowing and glancing darkly at Rosalie.

"Rose you can't..." Carlisle trailed off, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"You'll do nothing to her without doing it to me as well." Rosalie stated.

I was stunned. And it seemed like I wasn't the only one; Edward looked between her and I frustratedly, Esme gasped sharply, Carlisle's eyes widened, and Emmett shifted nervously closer to her... and me.

"Beat her, starve her, or kill her... and beat me, starve me, and kill me as well." She continued, seeming not to have noticed their reactions.

"Rosalie this is too much!" Carlisle stood and slammed his palms angrily onto the desk. "She is not your sister, she's a law breaker, a dis-throned queen and a prisoner. Step away from her and let Edward deal with her."

"Over my dead body will Edward touch this girl!" Rosalie spat at him.

"Rose." He tried a calmer approach, smiling gently at her and extending his hands. "I understand that this is hard for you particularly, but you must remember that all of us loved Bella. We do not like certain aspects of this anymore than you do, but it must be done. What are we if we do not follow our own laws? The very laws that Bella died for."

Rosalie growled viciously, making me jerk away from her. "Don't you stand there and preach to me about how hard this for you. The only person is this room that could possibly understand my pain is the same person who wants to kill her. What are we even killing her for? Because she unknowingly broke our laws, or because Edward can't stand looking at her without dying inside?"

Edward darted forward with a snarl and before I knew it he had her pinned against the door frame. It didn't seem like he was hurting her, just holding her there.

"I'm not afraid of you Edward. Maybe if you weren't so blinded by your pain and need to destroy her, you might realize that this is a chance to learn, to start over." She cried to him.

He stepped away from her, glancing at Carlisle and it seemed as if they were having a silent conversation as Edward would shake his head every few seconds. I noticed that Emmett had slowly taken steps to put himself between Edward and I, but I was still hyper aware of Jasper just a few feet behind me. Would he kill me if Edward told him to?

"Isabella, sit down." Carlisle commanded softly.

Rosalie pushed off the wall and took her place beside me once more, guiding me to a large chair. Surprisingly, I felt more protected with her by my side than I ever did in all the years of knowing Jacob was guarding me.

"What have you done with my people?" I asked Carlisle, refusing to let another minute pass without knowing.

He released a slow breath, sitting back down in the chair that used to be mine. "Those who have surrendered have not been harmed. Some left of their own accord, others have chosen to stay in their homes under our rule."

"The human that was with me, Angela, what of her?" I'd never forgive myself if Angela had been hurt trying to protect me.

"We released her, unharmed, along with all the other humans here. It is just us vampires now." He smiled gently.

I heard Edward scoff, but didn't spare him a glance.

"To be honest Isabella, I have no idea what to do in this situation." Carlisle ignored the interruption. "Our plan had been to simply kill you for your crimes, but this has obviously become a bit more complex. I'm sure that Rose has told you the reasons behind this?"

"I know." I said lowly. "I look like her, Bella, but I'm not her."

"See!" Edward shouted, flinging his arm out toward me. "Even she says it's preposterous. Someone hold Rosalie back while I kill her."

He started toward me and a spark of panic ignited in me. I could not defend myself against a vampire with three times my strength.

It was Emmett who reacted first, moving at vampire speed to grab Edward around the neck and throw him through one of the walls. I let out a small squeak, jumping from my seat as Rosalie and Alice both moved to stand on either sides of me.

Jasper sprang forward, putting himself in the blur of fists and teeth, and I wondered who's side he would take. Help Emmett subdue Edward? Or incapacitate Emmett and help kill me?

The fight was over just as fast as it'd begun; Jasper hurling Edward across the floor until he slammed into a set of bookshelves.

"You will not kill her." Jasper growled in a low deep voice, frightening in his own unique way.

"Fine then, I won't kill her." Edward sneered at him and Rosalie relaxed beside me, but it was short lived. "We can keep her as a slave; Emmett did always want a pet."

He stood and turned to stalk out, but a sudden wave of bravery came over me and I darted around Rosalie and pushed Edward to turn to me. My hand shot up to his cheek before he knew what was happening. One touch to Edward's face brought him to the ground in pain, my mind working to send what Jacob had once described as thousands of tiny little knives throughout his mind.

"Make a slave of me, I dare you." I seethed softly to him.

Edward roared, launching himself off the floor and slamming into my body. We landed on the oak desk, faintly hearing it crack as he wrapped his hands around my neck.

"You're a dhampir – an abomination! You're part of a disgusting race that was created when Aro Volturi raped some poor human girl!" He snarled. "She's dead and you're alive and I can't stand to look at you a second longer!"

He was choking me, my lungs struggling to breathe in air that wasn't there. I raked my nails across his face, but against his stone skin it did nothing, not even the waves of mental pain I pushed out seemed to affect him much now.

_Rosalie. Where is Rosalie? Where is my sister? Don't let Edward kill me, he'll never forgive himself._

As soon as the thought crossed me, my mind screamed out in pain, searing me like a fire. Between the burning in my mind and the burning in my lungs all I could think was _not mine, not my thoughts, not my words_.

The agony of it all was too much, I knew I was dying and there was nothing I could do. Darkness spotted my vision and strangely I found it to be a sweet release, an end to the pain and the suffering.

I closed my eyes and let it engulf me, gasping out a shuddered breath.

* * *

**Edward is being such an ass. Are his reason's justified? Or is he just being a giant dick for the hell of it? And what do you think of Rose? **

**I finally got this chapter out, focus has not been my friend lately. Links for everything are on my profile page, check it out if you want.**

**Thanks for reading!**


	4. Chapter 4

**BPOV**

I realized I was not dead.

At least not yet. Rosalie must have pulled Edward away from me in time, because I could hear them discussing something in harsh whispers while Rosalie's agile fingers combed through my hair. It was a bit unsettling how easily I recognized it as her, but pushed that aside. There were much bigger things to worry about than my apparent fondness for the vampire.

I was hesitant to open my eyes, slowly cracking one lid open. I saw Edward, Carlisle, and Alice huddled close together with their backs to me. They were the source of the hushed conversation I'd been hearing, with Rosalie interjecting a hiss or a disapproving sound at what they were saying.

I heard snippets of sentences; _not possible... could it really be... can't hurt her until we know... _

"She's awake." Alice's voice chimed out softly.

In sync, the three of them turned around and I suddenly had three sets of dark golden eyes burning me with their intensity. Rosalie tensed and shifted so that her torso was hovering over me, her blond curls pooling around me.

It didn't take Edward five long strides before he was standing in front of me.

"What's your name?" He asked me, determination set in his perfect face.

I frowned. They knew my name already, his question made no sense and I was worried this was a new tactic that he was trying to mentally torture me.

"Isabella Volturi." I answered cautiously.

It appeared that I said the wrong thing, because his hands shot out and pulled me to my feet, Rosalie began yelling behind me. I cringed away expecting a repeat choking or something equally horrific, but his hands held onto my shoulders gently and didn't move to harm me.

"Do you remember what you thought while I was..." Edward paused and looked a little ashamed, "right before you blacked out?"

I remembered a splintering pain in my head, and Edwards' hands wrapped around my neck, the blackness creeping up on me... I remembered

_I remembered, but how did Edward know?_

"They weren't my thoughts." I muttered. "I do not know what they were, please, I'm sorry." I was starting to panic again, the fear of saying the wrong thing and paying for it with more torture was overcoming me.

"What you thought about not letting me kill you because I'd regret it – where did that come from?" Edward was now shaking me by the shoulders.

"I don't know!" I cried out.

He growled in frustration and shoved me back into Rosalie who caught me gently. He pivoted toward Carlisle, and I saw all the energy drain from him as his shoulders slumped and his fingers twitched, almost like he'd been deflated.

"Is it possible, Carlisle?" Edward asked with a desperate tone.

"Well… I can't say." Carlisle frowned, looking intently at me. "I suppose it's not _impossible_. There have been cases of people with memories of past lives, some people recognizing long dead loved ones in another person, even stories of doppelgangers. It _has_ been over a thousand years… there is a possibility that Bella has been reincarnated."

I gasped.

They thought I was a reincarnation of Bella?

Had they gone insane?

"No!" I blurted out. "That is an impossibility, insanity."

"We live in a world of vampires, werewolves, fairies, and half breeds... and reincarnation is the insane one." Emmett chuckled, looking at me with an almost fond expression.

"Isabella," Rosalie spoke, "how else would you explain looking like her, having kind thoughts about Edward when he's choking the life out of you, and even having her name? It's all to much too ignore."

"I'm not her." I whispered hoarsely.

"We know that sweetie, but you seem to be some form of her." She tried to comfort me.

"I can't be." My chest began to tighten and I was taking in deep breaths.

My mind rebelled against the fact that they were telling me I was not my own person. I was someone else, just in a different time.

_No._

I was Isabella Volturi, Queen of Volterra. Not some vampire they wished I was.

Angrily, I pulled away from Rosalie and rushed past Edward and Carlisle, neither of which tried to stop me.

"Let her go, she can't go very far." I heard Alice tell them.

My feet carried me through the hallways, my body knowing them as well as I knew the lines on my palms. My hands furiously grabbed at the skirt of my dress, bunching and unbunching the purple fabric between my fingers. It was a habit I'd developed as to not trip when wearing my longer formal dresses, but I barely noticed that it was unnecessary in this dress as it only came to just above my knees.

The halls were dark and empty, the normal laughing and cheerful groups of people wandering the halls were a thing of the past. No one could be happy under the rule of the Cullens. My people were probably shut in their homes, afraid of the Cullen vampires who might come in the night.

My feet stumbled at those thoughts and I caught myself on the marble wall.

I covered my mouth with both hands, holding in the screams and cries that wanted to be let out. My wide eyes could not look away from the arched window a few feet from where I'd collapsed against the wall, and the dark thought of jumping out the window passed through my mind. It was three stories down to the stone walkway, almost a hundred feet in total.

_Would it kill me, like I secretly wished?_

_Or would I walk away simply injured and not only in emotional pain, but physical pain as well?_

No, that was cowardly.

But what awaited me back with the Cullens? More torture? Edward's volatile temper? The pressures of being someone I wasn't? What happened if I did something wrong or disappointed them? Would they see how preposterous it was that I was Bella and kill me?

There were too many questions, too many things that were out of my control and I could feel myself going mad.

I cried out against my hands and felt my body shudder.

_Why was I so frightened of being Bella? My life was already no longer my own._

I slouched against the cool marble and slid down it, shaking and closing in on myself.

I'd lost _everything_, I was the great failure of my family, probably the last queen of Volterra as I saw no future in which the Cullens would leave peacefully. I did not even-

"Are you all right?"

I jumped and screamed, lashing out at the form kneeling a couple feet from me, it's hand reaching out to me. It was a man – a vampire considering his pale skin – and he was staring at me with a sad expression.

_Oh please, not more of them._

"I'm sorry!" He retracted his arm like I was on fire. "Are you lost? I don't know how to get around this place very well, but I'd be happy to help."

I had to look twice at him, because he looked as if he could be related to Edward.

He was smiling at me and it wasn't vicious or teasing, it was kind and true. His face was angular with a defined jaw, his hair wavy and nearly as messy as Edward's, and held the same reddish hue though it seemed to have more brown. His gentle smile showed off dimples, with big golden eyes shinning at me.

He was handsome.

"I'm Peter, what's your name?" He tried again when I didn't answer his first question.

"Isabella." I choked out.

"That's pretty." Peter complimented genuinely. He looked excited that he'd finally gotten me to speak. "Do you mind if I sit down here?"

He pointed to the floor just in front of him, still a good five feet away from me, and as I could see no harm in it I nodded yes. Peter held his light smile, settling down cross legged with his hands resting on his knees, which seemed like an attempt to let me know he wasn't hiding anything.

I took a moment to look over him completely; there were none of the combat boots or rugged clothing I'd noticed the Cullens wearing. Peter seemed to dress for comfort, sitting before me in denim pants and a worn out looking gray cotton shirt, and his feet were bare.

I knew that I should feel nervous because of the fact that he resembled Edward, but there was something calming about him...

"Why are you crying in a dark hallway?" Peter asked me, his head tilting a little as he studied me.

"It is hard to explain, and I probably shouldn't tell anyone." I told him vaguely, tucking hair that had fallen in my face behind my ear.

"I won't tell anyone, promise." Peter winked and crossed his non-beating heart with his finger.

I hesitated.

Why did I want to spill everything that I had built up inside of me to this vampire? I recognized this feeling... it was new, it was how I felt with Rosalie. Open, safe, warm. There was nothing threatening about Peter, no growling threats, no heated glares, and definitely no hands around my neck or threats of slavery.

_Why couldn't Bella have loved this one? Peter seemed much kinder than Edward could ever be capable of._

"You shouldn't be talking to me." I pushed those feelings aside, choosing to go on the offensive instead. "Just leave me here, I'll get up when I'm ready."

"I'm not going to leave you here all alone and crying." Peter insisted, showing the first real bit of seriousness since I'd noticed him. "You don't have to tell me why you're here, that's fine. We can talk about something else."

"There is nothing to talk about." I said stiffly, folding in on myself.

"Sure there is." Peter was once again upbeat. "What's your favorite flower?"

"Excuse me?" I was caught off guard.

"Your favorite flower?" He repeated for me with a goofy grin.

_What kind of question was that? I had never before been asked such a silly thing in my life._

"I..." I thought for a moment and realized that I loved cherry blossoms. The light pink color of them, how they fell and coated the ground, even the scent of them. We had a whole line of them going down the main rode out of Volterra, and in autumn when they would shed the leaves would float in through the open windows of the palace.

I told all of this to Peter, a little shyly and uncertain, and he smiled even wider and his dimples deepened.

"What?" I asked.

"I got you to stop crying." He stated proudly.

My mouth curled into a small smile and I realized he was correct. I had stopped crying, and for a few moments I had even forgotten about the Cullens and the panic I'd felt.

All too quickly reality set back in and my few seconds of happiness was behind me.

"I should-"

"Who did that?" Peter spoke up before I could really even start.

"What?" I was suddenly nervous.

He lifted one of his hands and motioned to my neck, looking like he was restraining himself from leaning over and touching me.

_The bruises from Edward choking me hadn't healed yet._

"Nothing to be concerned about." I brushed him off, cupping my throat in a useless attempt to make him forget about the dark purple marks I was sure blotted my skin.

"Peter!" A voice echoed off the marbled walls.

I jumped and scrambled back into the wall, only breathing with ease when I saw it was Emmett coming down the hall, his large form coming toward us hesitantly.

"Emmett." Peter greeted him coolly.

The atmosphere became awkward and cold, the bubble Peter and I had somehow formed around each other nowhere to be found.

Emmett turned to me and smiled in what I'm sure he meant to be friendly and reassuring. "Isabella, we should get back and finish talking to everyone. Get it over with and you can go back to your room."

He tried to make light of it, but I could sense the tension underneath.

I didn't want to go back to the prison that was my new room, and I would rather sit in this hall for the next year than go back to the Cullens.

Peter stood up with the fluidity and grace only a vampire could possess and held his hand out to me. I hesitated, my deeply rooted instincts that the Cullens and anyone associated with them were evil warning me against touching him.

"We'll go together." He winked at me.

**.**

**.**

**.**

**.**

**.**

**.**

"What the hell is this?" Edward asked, somewhat rhetorically, when Peter entered the study behind me.

"I found her crying in the hallway, little brother." Peter answered with an edge, but he shrugged casually.

I froze, my lips parting slightly in shock as my mind processed the last two words.

_Little brother._

I knew Peter did not call Edward brother just because they were in the same vampire family, the resemblance between them was too much.

"I thought it rude to walk past a weeping girl, something I thought that our human mother had drilled into both our heads, so I sat down and tried to cheer her up." It was an obvious dig at Edward, one to which he cringed and looked away from his brother.

"Yeah well, you need to stay out of this." Edward recovered quickly.

"Why, so you can choke her again?" Peter suddenly sounded furious.

"Go back to your books!" Edward snapped.

"I think I'll stay right here so I can help Rosie tear you limb from limb if you make one more wrong move." He said in a pleasant tone, gently guiding me over to where Rosalie sat.

"Great, someone else who wants to jump in front of her." Edward mumbled from his corner.

"Actually, this seems very similar to the cases of the immortal children." Carlisle's curious voice broke in. "Anyone who was in their presence for any length of time instantly became protective of them and even went as far as dying for them."

"I think it has something more to do with the fact that she's practically a mirror image of Bella, but... yes, I do feel that protective pull toward her." Jasper said stoically from his place beside Alice, who was nodding in agreement.

"No matter, I think it will be best for everyone if we delve deeper into this." Carlisle said. "For now, Isabella should remain where she's been." He turned to me them, addressing me directly. "You will not be harmed, and I don't think it would hurt to give you a few freedoms, though you will continue to be our prisoner."

I huffed, astounded at these vampires gall to think it was kind that they would allow me courtesies in my own home. I tread carefully though, all too aware of the power they'd won over me through their violence and blood.

"Rose, would you take her back to her room?" Carlisle asked.

Rosalie didn't look any happier at the way they were treating me than I did, but stood and took my hand. With one last look between Peter and Edward, I followed her out of the study.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Over the next week and a half, I spent my days either with Rosalie or Peter. It seemed like they had worked out some sort of schedule between themselves, alternating days.

My days with Rosalie meant stories and walks in the gardens for fresh air, and once she even let me give her a tour of the palace. She had been stunned by the High Temple. I was pleased to see that despite the fighting between James and I it was relatively untouched. I missed going there and meditating, and I longed for it even more when I explained to Rosalie the religion in Volterra.

The Volturi had been worshiped as gods, and as a descendant of those gods, I was considered not only royal but holy as well. She seemed a little taken aback at that, looking at me with wide golden eyes.

"Why are your eyes amber now?" I asked her candidly one day.

"Well, my eyes have been this color since the development of the synthesized blood." She explained. "That's what makes them golden, it's human blood that makes our eyes red. Some of us, like myself, Carlisle, Peter, and Esme, prefer the synthesized blood. The others drink it, but they're not on a strict diet of it."

They chose to drink from willing humans.

I knew that was it, I was simply curious as to why Alice, Jasper, Emmett, and even Edward now had golden eyes, when they had red when I first saw them. But I didn't push Rosalie anymore, the fear of bringing up the wrong subject and her never coming to visit me again was first and foremost in my mind.

It grated on my nerves, but I was all too aware that these days were a privilege Carlisle and Edward were giving me, and they could easily be revoked at any time.

On my days with Peter, we would walk down to the Great Library and I'd show him all of my favorite novels, and a few times he pulled a few favorites of his own off the shelves to show me as recommendations to read. It was a relief to have some form of normalcy since my imprisonment.

I had been cautious of Peter after I discovered he was Edwards brother, but I found him to be quite the opposite of his cold sibling. Peter was fun and gentle, often striving to make me laugh and talk about things I liked. In the library, he'd sit close to me to read out of my book, but never touched me. I knew he could tell I did not like much physical contact, but his warm smiles brought me an odd sense of comfort.

I confided this to Rosalie and she laughed, trying to hide it from me until I convinced her to tell me what she thought was so funny about it.

"Isabella, Peter isn't just Edward's brother. Bella and Peter were friends." She told me carefully.

"They were _friends_?" I found my curiosity growing more and more where Bella was concerned.

"Yes, Bella and Peter were best friends actually. When Bella wasn't with Edward, she was usually doing something or another with Peter. Emmett always joked rather crudely to Bella about her having both the brothers wrapped around her finger." Rosalie chuckled and shook her head at the old memories.

"So he knew who I was the moment he saw me." I muttered, strangely disappointed that this too was something tainted with the memory of Bella. For some reason, I wanted my friendship with Peter to be exactly that – _my_ friendship.

"No, he simply saw that you looked like someone who was once his best friend, and he wanted to help." Rosalie smiled kindly.

I had struggled with that.

It was difficult to tell if Peter was simply like the rest of the Cullens – who would have been more than willing to kill me if they didn't realized I was some reincarnation of their long dead family member.

I watched him carefully the next time I saw him, searching for signs that he was under the impression that I would be some form of Bella to him. All through the day, he never once brought the subject of her up, nor did he slip and call me _Bella_, something I'd caught Emmett do while talking to him with Rosalie.

Today was another day with Peter. I sat on my bed, still in the small closed off room I had been confined to from the beginning, waiting for the knock on my door.

I was dressed simply today, in a light blue dress that had a print of small white roses, the end hitting me just mid thigh. It was something I wouldn't normally consider wearing in public, but then again, Peter wasn't exactly public.

In my hair, Rosalie had placed a circlet of gold leaves – something she had grabbed from my wardrobe in my old room – and braided it into my hair so the curling sides of my hair were out of my face, but the rest hung loose down my back. It was the closest thing to a crown I had worn in weeks, and I wasn't entirely sure Edward would be pleased.

_Who cares what Edward thinks? I should be able to wear whatever I wish. What would he do – rip the offending piece out of my hair?_

I scoffed to myself.

_I'd like to see him try._

Peter did not make me wait long. Just on time I heard his footsteps echoing down the hallways, then a moment later a solid knocking. I made my way across the room to open the door. It didn't lock from the inside, but from the outside, so he could enter if he wanted, but I knew that wasn't something Peter would do.

"Hey." Peter greeted when I swung the door open.

"Hello." I responded brightly.

"You look beautiful, as always." Peter complimented, showing off his dimples in the process.

I rolled my eyes a little, he would always find something nice to say about me, and truthfully I found it quite endearing.

We walked down to the Great Library, taking our time because I found that I had come to enjoy the simple act of walking the halls that I once roamed freely.

My, how imprisonment made one look at the simple things through whole new eyes.

We took our usual path to the library, and like every other day I saw that there were none of the usual people who walked these halls before the Cullens came.

_How where they ruling when no one was ever here?_

I never even saw any of the vampires that were with the Cullens. There had been hundreds of them storming Volterra not even a month ago and now it was deserted. I was not allowed out of the palace to get an idea of what remained of my city, the gardens and courtyards within the stone walls the closest I ever got to being outside and free – and even that was an illusion of freedom.

I glanced to Peter, who was strolling along happily beside me, completely unfazed by the emptiness of it all.

We went through our normal routine, finding a comfortable place and settling down with a stack full of books we would sort through, eventually deciding on which one to read.

"May I ask you something?" I wondered, setting a book aside in the _no_ pile.

"Anything." He nodded and waited.

_Start with something smaller, don't interrogate him about how his family is supposedly ruling Volterra._

There _was_ something else I had been wondering...

"Of all the stories I've been told about the rebellion, I don't ever recall your name being mentioned." I frowned, trying to think back. "Yet you are Edwards' brother, were you not involved with the other Cullens?"

"I wasn't apart of the war; at least, not the part that all the vampires know about. All that fighting... not really for me. I'm more of the intellectual of our family." Peter tapped his temple and grinned.

"What did you do then?" I asked.

"Mostly I did the research." He answered simply.

"Research? During a war? How does that help anything?" I didn't understand – war was fighting and blood. What place did books and research have in such a savage act?

"Have you ever fought a war?" Peter countered me.

I blushed a little.

Clearly not, or else we would not be in this situation. Maybe if I had known how to command an army, Carlisle Cullen would not be sitting on my throne.

"No, but I've heard plenty of stories. Most of a war is nothing but fighting, killing and conquering." I said bluntly.

"True, that's what it is on the surface." He allowed. "Though behind the fighting is strategy, and you need to know your enemy, their land, their people... what they want, their weakness... even what they'd die for. There has never been a war won without someone whispering in a kings' ear."

"And you whisper in Carlisle's ear?" I asked.

"Sometimes." Peter said, looking at me with sadness written on his face.

We lapsed into silence after that, going back to our respective books. I hadn't read through half a chapter when Peter spoke again.

"Can I ask you something?" He queried softly.

"Of course." I answered, setting a book down.

"That day I found you... you were crying and staring out that big window." Peter cleared his throat, even though vampires didn't need to. "You looked so sad... so desperate... you wanted to jump out that window, didn't you?"

I looked away sharply, my hands folding in on themselves in my lap as my mind searched for an answer.

"I do not know what you're talking about." I said in a clipped tone, hoping he would drop it.

"You're a horrible liar." He accused halfheartedly.

"If you're so sure you know the answer, why even bother to ask me?" I snipped at him.

"Because," Peter gripped my chair to pull me closer to him, staring into my eyes with heated seriousness. "I want you to know that if you ever feel that way again, don't you dare go to that window – go to me."

My breath froze in my throat from the feeling behind his voice. I was mere inches from him and the heated look in his golden eyes made my heart thump loudly in my chest.

A throat cleared and I nearly jumped out of my skin as I tried to move away from Peter.

_What was with these vampires sneaking up on me? I usually had amazing senses._

"Edward." Peter said cautiously, leaning back from me.

Of course it would be Edward. Any other of the Cullens would have been welcome. Now I was sure my day would be ruined with his sullen attitude and threats.

I spared him a glance; he stood firmly between two bookshelves just five yards from us, his dark eyes darting between Peter and I, oddly suspicious. He was wearing his usual attire – black combat boots, black and slightly torn jeans, and a dark gray shirt and he'd pushed the long sleeves up to his elbows.

"Isabella." Edward nodded toward me curtly, but politely.

"Come to make more threats?" Peter asked him in a bored tone.

"No." Edward said sourly. He took steps toward us, but still kept a reasonable distance. "Actually... I've come to ask Isabella's opinion on a matter concerning the people of Volterra."

The look on my face must have been comical.

Edward was here to ask my opinion on something?

Had there been an invasion of the body snatchers sometime during the night?

"What is it?" I asked.

"Come with me." He motioned me forward.

I held my place, suddenly panicked at the thought of going anywhere with Edward.

"Ain't gonna happen, little brother." Peter stood up.

"Holy Hell, what do you think I'm going to do to her?" Edward asked, exasperated.

"It's all right." I said, putting my hand up to Peter.

I walked over to Edward, a bit cautiously, and followed him out as he turned sharply on his heels.

His heavy boots made no sound, his gate more graceful than I had expected it to be from such a brutal man. Though I suppose I shouldn't be surprised – his vampire grace was meant to make him seem unsuspecting.

Nothing but silence accompanied us as we walked, and I was left to my thoughts as to what he wanted from me.

I glanced at Edward from the corner of my eye and saw that his brow was furrowed, his hair messier than I'd seen it, his mouth drawn down into a frown, and he looked genuinely upset about something.

It wasn't long before he spoke up to me.

"Are you all r..." Edward trailed off, hesitating. "I'm sorry."

"What?" I must not have heard him correctly, because _sorry_ did not seem to be in his vocabulary.

"I'm sorry." He repeated, shoving his hands in his pockets and looking oddly vulnerable. "I shouldn't have hurt you like I did, that was awful, and I hate myself for putting my hands around your neck."

"I'm not going to forgive you." I said stubbornly.

He takes my entire life from me and then struts in looking all cute and frazzled and thinks a _sorry_ will help him, but I am not so forgiving.

Edward chuckled to himself. "I'd be disappointed if you did, but I just wanted you to know that I am sorry, even if you never accept or understand."

I halted abruptly, making Edward stumble to a stop and turn to look back at me.

"Exactly what is it that you want from me?" I asked, my eyes narrowed. "Why the sudden kindness, and asking my opinion on the very kingdom you took from me?"

Edward grimaced. "Carlisle and Esme have left to go back to America, and they've left me in charge of Volterra."

The blood drained from my face.

"What?" I whispered hoarsely.

"Well, we do have our own world to run. Not all of us can sit around here all the time, ruling over prissy vampires and dhampirs" Edward said like it was as obvious as the sky was blue.

I bristled a little at _prissy vampires_. Being peaceful instead of savage animals was not something I considered to be a flaw, like Edward seemed to think.

"So, they left my city in the hands of a vampire who likes to choke defenseless women." I snapped.

"I wouldn't exactly call you defenseless, that mind trick of yours is pretty effective." He said sourly.

"It didn't keep you from choking me until I lost consciousness!" I was furious now, taking none of his apologies or excuses.

Edward took a threatening step toward me, when suddenly the frustration slipped off his face and he was staring at me with something akin to longing.

"Bella..."

Swiftly as I could, I hauled my hand back and smacked him across his stone face.

"Don't you call me that!" I shouted at him.

Edward looked down at me with wide eyes, probably stunned that I'd actually hit him, but did not try to retaliate like the times before. It likely didn't hurt him much, no more than a fly bothering a horse.

"I am not Bella! No matter what you and Carlisle may think, make no mistake – I am my own person. So do not call me by her name!" I insisted, shouting up at him.

Edward regarded me calmly. "I suppose that's fair. No need to resort to violence, _oh_ _peaceful queen_." He mocked, smiling in delight to himself.

I suppressed a scream of frustration and watched as he sauntered away, obviously expecting me to follow after him.

That vampire made me want to rip my hair out.

I thought of how arrogant he was, how he liked to play me like I was his personal fiddle, and how twelve hundred years of progress was now in Edward Cullen's hands.

It made me want to spit fire.

I had to get my kingdom back.

* * *

**Edward is getting a little better, right... eh okay, he's still an asshole. And Isabella does have a point about the whole name thing, you wouldn't want people basically calling you by another woman's name, would you?**

**Peter, oh Peter. What do you think of him? Seems innocent enough...**

**I'm getting better at this updating on time stuff, made in right at the two week mark! As always, links for my fanfiction Tumblr are on my profile page. Check it out, I'm just getting a page for Sacred up and running and I've got some character face claims up as well as a fashion collection I'm doing for some of the characters.**

**Thank you for reading, see you in a couple weeks!**


End file.
